


Leave It to the Breeze

by phdmama



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Break Up, Conversation, Drabble, Happy Ending, Little bit of angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 20:38:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8300177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phdmama/pseuds/phdmama
Summary: Short drabble about a post-breakup encounter.





	

**Author's Note:**

> From this prompt seen on tumblr: “we have a lot of mutual friends so we see each other more than two broken up people usually do and i know we’re not really close anymore but you’re wearing that stupid (adorable) hat you always wore when you were upset so tell me what’s wrong because it’s literally killing me to see you look so sad” AU
> 
> Please respect the 4th wall! Feel free to [come say hi on Tumblr.](http://phd-mama.tumblr.com/)
> 
> If you enjoy, please feel free to leave a kudos or a comment, they make my day!!

Harry leaned against the wall, drink in hand, as he surveyed the crowd. It was the usual extended group, and spirits were high as they headed into the three-day weekend. He sighed, wishing he could feel the same. He adjusted his hat on his head as he glanced around the room, trying hard to keep from looking over to the corner where Louis was currently talking with a group of Zayn’s therapist friends from work. He heard Louis’s laughter ringing over the general buzz of the room, and all of a sudden, it was just too much.

He quickly downed the rest of his drink, and headed into the kitchen to put his glass away. As he moved past Liam, the other man grabbed his arm, already well beyond tipsy towards drunk. “HARRRRRY” Liam slurred loudly in his ear, draping himself over Harry’s shoulders. “Babe.” Liam pulled back and attempted to focus on Harry’s face. Harry thought he was probably going for supportive and caring, but just managed to look vaguely confused.

“Whatcha doing, Harry?”

Harry very carefully did not look towards the corner to see if Louis was catching any of this. “I’m just going to put my glass away, and then I’m going to head out, Li.”

“Aww, babe.” A more genuine expression came across Liam’s face. “Are you sure? Do you want some company?”

Harry patted Liam’s face. “No, I think I’m just...I want an early night. I’m kind of tired.” He couldn’t quite muster the energy to smile. Since the break up, he hadn’t been sleeping well at all, and it sort of felt like the entire world was swathed in fog. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

Liam gave Harry a wordless squeeze, and just nodded. After he and Sophia had broken up, he and Harry had spent many a night talking about life, love and relationships, and Harry had explained that he usually needed some time to brood before he was ready to reconnect with other people. He and Louis had only split a couple of weeks ago, and Harry was still struggling to make sense of it.

He hadn’t been surprised, not entirely. They’d been drifting for months, Harry’s job as a photographer often taking him out of the country for weeks at a time, and Louis’s partner-track position at the law firm eating up most of his waking moments even when Harry was around. Harry wasn’t sure how it had happened, that slide from being so in tune that he could read Louis with a glance from across to the room, to barely remembering the shape of his mouth or the color of his eyes. They’d taken each other for granted, until, at last, they had stopped taking each other at all.

Harry carefully placed his glass in the dishwasher, and headed back out into the hall. He glanced up, suddenly making eye contact with Louis. They stared at each other for a moment, and then Louis moved towards him.

“What’s wrong, Harry?” His voice was, not gentle exactly, but no longer held that angry, biting tone that he’d had in their final days together before they both admitted that they were tearing each other apart. Harry would never forget the defeated tone in Louis’s voice as he’d finally said what they were both thinking. “It’s over, isn’t it, Harry. It’s over.”  They’d agreed to take a break, take some space to try and figure out what had gone so wrong.

Harry shrugged, and said, “Nothing. I’m good, you know, just tired. I’m heading out.”

“Bullshit.” Louis’s eyes narrowed. “You only wear that stupid fucking hat when you’re melancholy.”

Harry’s eyes narrowed in response. “No, I don’t.” He hated that Louis was right of course, and it suddenly hit him that no one in his life had ever known him like Louis had, had ever * **loved** * him like Louis had, and maybe no one ever would again. “Who even says melancholy anymore anyway?”

Louis rolled his eyes. “You do. When you’re feeling sad, and you put on that damn hat and go to a cafe and drink too much coffee and write your poetry about how sad you are. You always say to me…” His voice trailed off as it occurred to them both that maybe this was now all part of their past. Maybe Harry wouldn’t be saying anything much to Louis at all anymore.

“Well, I have to go.” Harry gave an awkward nod, settled his hat more firmly on his head, and walked away from Louis.

The warm summer night closed around him, as he wandered down the quiet street. Liam’s neighborhood tended to shut down early, as there were a lot of families with young kids near him, so it was quiet in the dark. Harry had parked a block over, to pick up some pastries for the party at the bakery, and it had been such a lovely evening, he’d decided simply to head to Liam’s on foot. He found himself enjoying the walk back to his car in the sultry summer air, as he looked up into the vast expanse of the evening sky. Suddenly, he heard feet pounding the pavement behind him, and a voice calling, “Harry, wait. Please.”

He turned, and Louis slowed down as he approached. “Harry, please. Can we,” he paused, looking more uncertain than Harry thought he’d ever seen Louis look, “can we talk, please?”

Harry stared at him. “I thought you wanted some time apart, to, you know, reflect on things and whatever.”

Louis held his gaze. “Do you realize that we haven’t gone more than a day without talking since we were 18, until these past two weeks? Whether it was phone, or texting, or in person, we’ve been in contact every single day.”

“No,” Harry said, a bit confused as to where this was going, “I didn’t know that. I mean, I’m not all that surprised, I guess.”

“I just,” Louis ran a frustrated hand through his hair, fixing his blue eyes on Harry. “What do  you think went wrong between us? Did you stop loving me?”

“No,” Harry gasped, feeling his heart break all over again, at the thought that Louis might ever have thought that he didn’t love him, “No, Louis, I didn’t.”

Louis moved closer. “Then what the hell happened to us, Harry? Because I can’t figure it out. I can’t figure out how two people who loved each other the way we did, how that turned into this?” He waves a hand indicating the discomfort and silence between them.

Harry’s shoulders slumped. He’d thought of little else but this for the last few weeks. “I think,” He sighed, “I think we just got distracted, Lou. We’ve been working so hard, and we just forgot to take care of *us* and we lost it. It never worried me that I cared more about your happiness than my own, because I knew you felt the exact same way about me. I knew you’d take care of me and I could take care of you. But we stopped doing that. We just let it go.” A tear slid his cheek, and it hurt to meet Louis’s eyes.

“That first day,” Louis’s voice was rough as he spoke, “after, you know, we decided. The whole day, I just felt wrong, like there was something just fundamentally off about the world, and when I woke up the next morning, I realized that it was the first day in seven years, ten months and four days that we hadn’t been in contact at all.”

“Wait, how did you know how long it had been?”

“Oh,” Louis looked a bit embarrassed, “I found this website that figured it out for me, when I plugged in the day we met, and that date, it told me how long.”

Harry said quietly, “You remember the day we met?”

“Harry,” Louis’s voice was choked with emotion, “I remember everything. I don’t know how I could have let it get so distant between us, when I remember how I felt about you, how I *feel* about you.”

“How,” Harry cleared his throat, “How do you feel about me, then?”

“Harry, every day I don’t spend with you is a lost day.  I fell in love with you just about the day I met you. I can’t believe I was so stupid that I took it for granted, that I let you walk away thinking that you didn’t mean everything to me in this world. And then I saw you tonight in your sad hat and it just hit me, I’ve been a fucking idiot, Harry. I’d do anything to change things, anything to make it better between us.”

“Louis,” Harry whispered, not trusting his own voice any longer, “What are you saying? Are you saying you want to try again?”

Louis reached out and took Harry’s hand, winding his fingers through Harry’s in a way that felt both completely familiar and thrillingly new all at the same time. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying. I’ve loved you since I was 18, Harry, and I know that I’m going to love you for the rest of my life. I realized these past two weeks that work is empty. It's meaningless if I can’t come home and tell you about it. There’s no point in spending all this energy working for a future if you’re not in it, Harry. If you're not with me. If you want me to quit my job, I will."

Harry stared at Louis. “Lou,” he said, “It wasn’t all on you, I know that. I’ve been working so much too, taking every single assignment, even volunteering for things. I can change that too. This was both of us, baby,” and at the endearment, a look of such honest hope swept over Louis’s face, that it left Harry breathless for a moment, “and, _Jesus_ , Lou,” here he gasped on a broken inhale, “I’ve missed you so fucking much.”

Years later, when Harry would remember that moment, he could never recall who moved first, and he thinks they moved, as they did so often, in sync, mirroring each other as they fell into each other’s arms. Harry let out one sob as he felt Louis’s body pressed up against his as they held each other tight in the glow of the streetlight and the moon. He could hear Louis murmuring, “Oh thank god, thank god, Harry, I love you.”

After a moment, they pulled back slightly and Harry leaned down, pressing their foreheads together. Louis whispered, “Hi,” with a grin shining radiant through his tears.

“We’re going to have to work on this, you know that, right?” Harry said carefully.

Louis nodded. “I actually, um, I actually already talked to the partners about stepping down to the Tier 2 track. I don’t know, we’ll see, but if I can’t have my life, then I can’t work there, you know? There’s other firms. And,” here Louis flushed for a moment, “Uh, Zayn set me up with one of his colleagues at a different clinic, he could see how miserable I’ve been and thinks I need to talk to someone. Maybe,” Louis swallowed, “Maybe we could go together? Try and figure out what went wrong?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, I’d...that sounds good. I’d like that.”

“So, what now?”

“Now?” Harry felt suddenly lighter, happier than he had in months, “Now, I want to go home, Louis. Take me home.”

Louis closed his eyes as if the relief were almost too much to stand. “I can do that, baby.” He leaned up and pressed a long, sweet kiss to Harry’s mouth. “Let’s go home.”

Halfway back to their shared apartment, Harry reached up and realized that sometime during his exchange with Louis, he’d lost his sad hat.

“Leave it,” he thought himself, “Leave it behind.”


End file.
